Spectacular finds at the Precolumbian cemetery of Sitio Conte in central Panama shed light on a mysterious and complex society that thrived there more than 1,000 years ago. A high chieftain's grave site is featured; excavated by Penn Museum archaeologist J. Alden Mason in 1940, the burial contained glittering gold adornments and plaques embossed with animal-human motifs, pottery, tools, and weapons. This new exhibition offers contemporary perspectives on the people and culture from a range of scholars and scientists.

Vaults of Heaven: Visions of Byzantium Heaven on Earth: Churches of Constantinople

"We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth...we only knew that God dwells there among men."—Ambassadors to Prince Vladimir of Kievan Rus' on seeing the churches of Constantinople, 987 CE.

The splendor of Byzantine Christian art—preserved through the ages in early Christian churches in both Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and the Cappadocia region of Turkey—is the focus of an expanded, large-scale photography exhibition.

The Penn Museum, in association with the 2014–15 Penn Humanities Forum on Color, offers two very different small exhibitions that explore aspects of color—one looking at the role played by colored stone and marble in material culture throughout the ages, the other exploring the role of color through the lens of art, drawing, and photography in the fields of archaeology and anthropology.

Part exhibition, and part working laboratory, a glass-enclosed conservation lab brings you right into a museum conservator’s world. See the tools of the trade and watch as conservators work on a wide array of Egyptian objects including rare paintings, ancient funerary objects, and, of course, mummies! Enjoy this unique opportunity to follow conservators as they protect, restore, and preserve pieces of ancient Egyptian history in this 2,000 square foot exhibition.